Xiaguan 8653 Iron Cake Set

Xiaguan’s 8653 recipe is a widely recognized benchmark for sheng puerh. Many 8653s from the 80s and 90s have aged beautifully and are among the most valuable teas from this period. The iron-pressed version of this cake, with its flat edges and characteristic indentations, is particularly sought after nowadays for its favourable aging behavior.

After tasting a number of batches which are still in the affordable price range, we decided on three versions, from 2001, 2003 and 2005 (January batch, thick paper, traditional fonts). These are all natural Taiwan stored, and offer a great opportunity to see how the 8653 recipe transitions from its bold, punchy youth to its mellow but still somewhat cantankerous middle age.

The fourth quarter cake included in this set is a good example of a commissioned Xiaguan cake in the style of 8653. While this is not an official Xiaguan production, it outperformed several of the official batches we tried in preparing this quarter cake set.

TWL Xiaguan Iron QC set contents:

1 Quarter Cake of 2001-T8653
1 Quarter Cake of 2003-T8653
1 Quarter Cake of 2005-T8653
1 Quarter Cake of 1999 Xiaguan Commission

For a total of approximately 350g. We tried our best to make the quarters equal, but it is difficult with artisanal products which are not perfectly symmetrical. Maximum two sample sets per customer. We want as many people as possible to have access to this sampler.